sushi

I'm going to write about a couple of sushi experiences over the last couple of months in one post. Probably unfair since I did devote an entire post to the fairly mediocre - Nara sushi (a place I recommended for lunch not dinner and which, for some reason isnt serving lunch anymore! Correction - As of June 2008, Nara is serving lunch again). A few visits to each of these have helped form a decent opinion on where each, at least this quartet, stands on the RVA sushi pantheon (apparently by no means complete).
And the honor roll (pun intended of course) goes along the lines - Akida, Niwano'hana', Sticky Rice and Sumo San. Disposing off the bottom two:
SumoSan - Rather empty on a couple of visits (including, what has become fairly common - a Saturday night). There were just a few other tables occupied. In fact this place was empty on both visits. Sushi quality - passable. They did try a few of the "innovative" rolls but faltered on taste. Even the edamame was a bit disappointing. The service was slow despite the empty place (no water refills for eg). The check came to around $40-$45 and we thought it was quite more than the quality merited. C- (the plus being its walking distance proximity for me)

Sticky Rice - It was nice to see the restaurant buzzing even on a wet and late night on one of our visits. The foggy (weather-related) windows and bulb-lit interiors looked rather inviting. The place befits a college-age hangout place and the crowd reflects that. SR was slightly drafty on a couple of our winter visits (not a problem in summer of course). While the quality of the sushi is definitely not superb, it was decent and they did get moderately innovative (GI Joe sushi?). The downside of Sticky Rice is the fact that people smoke at the bar and the ventilation isnt great (more below). Our table was near some strange odor that kept wafting up every so often.
The check came to $20-$40. Cheap and decent option and quite obviously the college meetup place. Not worth the wait if actually looking for good sushi. C

One (small) reason why both these places rate low - The proximity of the bar (ie cigarette smoke) made for an unimpressive score on the decor front. I do not see why these places allow cigarette smoke. I havent been to Japan, but given its smoking friendly nature, I'd be very curious to see the melding of smoke and sushi but as far as Richmond is concerned, it was not very pleasant.

Sí redux

A recent visit to Sí was just as satisfying as the previous. I qualify that by saying it was culinarily satisfying and since I promised (not that anyone is keeping count :)) of any updates here goes:
With the rather "cozy" confines, an early Saturday evening visit saw the dining room quickly fill up and by about 6, there was very little maneuver room in the restaurant. With the exception of probably 1 of our choices, all the tapas we picked were very good and came out with a regularity that there wasnt a pause in the dining. Good.
Some of the dishes that we ordered (echoing what I said earlier about a lot of usual suspects) - duck breast with cocoa nibs and kumquats, squid with crispy rice cooked in squid ink, sauteed mushrooms with lentils and almonds, lamb meatballs with harissa, calamari with aioli, jumbo prawns, tuna carpaccio (a very tiny dish it must be warned). The carpaccio vanished in 3 quick gulps!

While we had to keep asking for bread, it must be noted that the bread (apparently from Billy Bread) is excellent. If choosing a dish with some sauce-like component, do not hesitate to ask for more as the mop up is one of the most satisfying way to fully enjoy the dish.
The desserts were excellent. We shared the poached pear with caramel and sorbet and a chocolate lava cake with icecream. They provided quite a punctuation to the entire meal.
Service was great. No empty glasses, no dawdling around waiting for food etc.
All in all, an excellent dinner. And definitely not a contrarian experience that I was half-fearing.

However, I must record that I think (as was also the consensus opinion) that Sí is definitely overpriced. A dinner for 3 with a single alcoholic drink and shared dessert (all $8) came to something in the range of $130 (with tip). Almost all the tapa were over $10 and quite small (yes of course by definition). A trio with a reasonably healthy appetite would easily gobble up around 7-9 dishes and still have room for dessert. When one tacks on the ridiculous 11% tax and tip, you are easily looking at quite a large check.

Bottomline: B

Can Can Brasserie

A longer review of Can Can will be appended but the one thing I wanted to write about was the desserts. After lamenting the lack of quality desserts in most restaurants here, a fact that presumably has to do with a missing pastry chef, we found the desserts at Can Can quite delectable.

Central Michel Richard

yes, the backlog et al. and this restaurant is not even in the RVA area and hence doesnt rightfully belong here. But another visit to the city up north reminded me of why my search for good food in Richmond has a ways to go.
Lacking the PP to go to Citronelle, I have been waiting to visit Michel Richard's other baby - Central for a while now. 2 reservations earlier had to be cancelled and finally my much anticipated trip to Central came to fruition.
The food was very good. Not sublime or terrific but very good. Echoing my earlier rant about price ranges and the food quality in those brackets, this place delivered. Unlike Citronelle, Central has a rather hmmm....interesting menu. Hints to its French pedigree abound although the food is best described as modern American. Who'd think of a Michel Richard restaurant with hamburger, lobster burger, rotisserie chicken etc on the menu?
The decor was, oddly enough, like something out of the 80s. Rather sparse and very "orange". It was like looking at the world through yellow glasses (which is quite literally true of the partitions). Visible kitchen - love 'em.

For the appetizer, we ended up getting the charcuterie tower which is indeed a 3-tiered tower of salami, proscuitto, duck rilettes, faux gras terrine (with the faux gras atypically from a chicken) and a delicious salad with marinated pearl onions and cherry tomatoes. A terrific start to the dinner although there was definitely more than could be eaten by two people. It is quite an appropriate starter for 3-4 people. We ended up getting almost half of the "tower" to go (which our waitress very efficiently packed in separate containers for each element. Good).
For the entrees, I felt I should have tried the pied de cochon (pig's feet) but I wasnt feeling that adventurous. Or even the burgers. Next time....
Instead we ended up getting (rather traditionally I'm afraid) a wonderful braised rabbit with spaetzle and sauteed scallops with tagliatelle. Halfway through the meal, we decided that each of our choices suited the other one's palate and switched. I simply loved the tagliatelle with its little beans and tomatoes. The sauce for the rabbit was rich. Portions initially looked quite large but turned out to be just right.
The desert of pear tart with marzipan and sorbet wrapped up the meal quite well. It must be said that the desert menu was also a bit "standard" - kit kat bar, fruit plate, sorbet assortment and the like.
Service was decent. No dawdling around empty glasses of water for one ! The check came to a little over $100 (no drinks). Money well spent.
Bottomline: B+